Three held in Dalit veterinary surgeon’s murder, say police
The Ramapuram police registered a case of suspicious death and handed over the body to the family. The final rites were performed in Kurnool on Saturday.
Three people, including a veterinary surgeon, were arrested in Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Kadapa district in connection with the alleged abduction and murder of a senior Dalit veterinary official, police said on Monday.
The mutilated body of the deceased, Dr Chinna Atchanna, 57, who was working as deputy director of the veterinary department at a polyclinic in Kadapa town, was found near the Guvvalacheruvu ghat section in Ramapuram mandal in Annamayya district on March 24, said police. The body was found 12 days after he had gone missing after visiting local church in Kadapa, said police.
Confirming the development, superintendent of police K K Anburajan said: “On Sunday night, three people, including assistant surgeon Bollu Subhash Chandra Bose (43), his relative Bavuluri Chenna Krishna (43) and Mude Balaji Naik (26) were taken into custody and after interrogation, were arrested on Monday. They were remanded to 14-day judicial custody.”
The Ramapuram police registered a case of suspicious death and handed over the body to the family. The final rites were performed in Kurnool on Saturday.
A case was registered into the matter under Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 364 (abduction), 302 (murder), 201, r/w 34 (disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code, besides Section 3 (2) (v-a) of SC,ST (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 2015, said police.
SP Anburjan said Atchanna and Bose had been working in the same hospital since 2022 during which some differences cropped up between the two. Apparently, Atchanna had withheld the salaries of his employees, removed them from their duties and surrendered them to the government on disciplinary grounds.
“Because of this, Bose developed a grudge against Atchanna and decided to eliminate him. In collusion with his relative Chenna Krishna and his medical store business partner Balaji Naik, he hatched a plan to murder Atchanna,” the SP said.
On March 12, around 11 am, the accused waylaid Atchanna near the CSI church, abducted him and took him to Guvvala Cheruvu Ghat. “They beat him and pushed him off the safety wall of the ghat road into the adjacent gorge, leading to his death,” he said.
Before committing the murder, Bose took the mobile phone of the deceased, removed its SIM card and threw it.
“Two days later, Atchanna’s son Clinton Chakravarthi lodged a complaint of a missing case at Kadapa one-town police. He suspected the role of Bose and others behind the disappearance of his father,” Anburajan said.
After examining the call data records of the deceased and that of the suspects, the police narrowed down to the accused.
“On March 24, Atchanna;s body was recovered from the gorge. Even as the post-mortem was being done and the body was handed over to the kin, the accused surrendered before the Kadapa village revenue officer on Sunday night. Later, they were taken into custody and arrested,” the SP added.
Meanwhile, the SC employees’ associations and some public-spirited organisations held agitations demanding justice for the deceased’s family. “We demand a comprehensive judicial probe into the murder of a Dalit officer,” said Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi founder-president Manda Krishna Madiga.
State animal husbandry minister Seediri Appala Raju assured that a departmental inquiry was ordered into the case. “We will take stringent action against the accused and extend all possible assistance to the family of the deceased,” the minister added.
